


Why. Just why.

by HalcyonAether



Category: Horizon SMP, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:16:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29615553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalcyonAether/pseuds/HalcyonAether
Summary: He's a real idiot, that Cloudssen kid. Well, the new one, anyway.
Kudos: 1





	1. SUMMER BREAK IS OVER BABY

**Author's Note:**

> goodluck...

"Jeez, Hal, did you grow your hair out over break?" A tall senior, one of whom's eyes is hidden by his emo bangs, leans his elbow against the locker in front of a shorter student with rosy cheeks and bright pink hair. They startle, staring at him in confusion.

"Uh, who're you?" Their voice is... not right.

He furrows his eyebrows. He could've sworn... "You don't remember me, Halcie? I'm only your _best friend_... I can't believe you did this to me... Do you at least know my name?" He bites his lip hopefully, but they only seem more confused at this. Upon closer inspection, he remembers that Halcie has bright cyan roots, while this kid's hair is entirely pink. They've also got bluer eyes than Hal, that's for sure. He'd know Hal's eyes _anywhere_.

"Nope." Popping their p, they close their locker, arms full of Physics books. "I'm sure Hal does, though. They've got a better memory than I do. They're the nerdy twin, after all. The name's Aether Cloudssen, by the way, but a cutie like you can call me anytime.~" Aether winks, before sauntering away. His hair, tied behind him in a long, messy braid, swishes with each step. 

"I'm... Felix..." He mutters beneath his breath. Fucking Cloudssens. Why are they all so ridiculous? In fact... "Do they know their tie isn't tied right?"

"Probably not. He's a little oblivious, sometimes."

Speak of the devil. "Hal!" Felix grins at the former Student Body President. If they notice that his cheeks are a little warm, they don't say anything. "Where've you been? Is that your sibling?"

"Yeah, he is. They're stupid, but I love them anyway. It's okay, though! Guess what I've been working on!~" They pull a rolled-up poster from the water bottle pocket of their backpack and hand it to him. "Go ahead 'n' open it! I was gonna invite you at lunch, but I don't think I can wait until then, actually, now that I think about it..."

Taking the roll with great care, he uncurls it, eyebrows rising in surprise. "A crafts club? Didn't that get taken down because the teacher that ran it was cut?" He looks up to see them bouncing on their heels in excitement.

"Well, actually... I may have started a fundraiser over the summer to get the school the rehire him... I didn't get enough to get him back, but the school thought my initiative was enough to let me honorarily proctor the club myself! So... consider me 'Mx. Cloudssen,' in a way?"

"Oh?~" Felix smirks, crossing his arms across his chest. "So, Mx. Honorary Teacher, if I do something bad, do I get to see you after class?"

Halcie sputters, blushing profusely. "I-I'm not a teacher, just a proctor! They had to screen me and everything--a-and... it's just a club. You can't really do anything bad unless you burn down the crafts room or something..."

"Is that an invitation?"

"Oh, god, please no. _Please don't_. I want to keep the club open as long as I can." They laugh, a strange, wheeze-like sound, before moving to open their locker. Right next to Aether's, interestingly enough. Maybe they wanted to show him around school? "Besides, I wouldn't want you to get expelled. I like having you around!"

Felix rubs the back of his neck. "I like having you around too, Hal."

"Awe, you sweetheart," they tease, reaching up to flick his nose. "Anyway, do you wanna come?"

"Already did, dear.~"

"N-not like that! Jesus... I meant... to the craft club... I'm gonna need members, and I'd love to show you some origami?" If their face wasn't already red, it definitely is now. It's sort of cute, how they keep looking away from him. 

Felix laughs, softly patting Halcie's arm in reassurance. "I know, Hal. And absolutely. What room is it in?"

They glance towards the yellow hall, and he follows their gaze to the Visual and Performing Art classrooms. "Y'know the sculpture room? That one. See you there?"

"What, do we not have lunch together?"

"O-oh, yeah, I forgot, holy crap. Sorry!" They rock back on their heels, smiling sheepishly up at him. "I'll see you at lunch. Say hi to Matthew for me! I know he has English second period, and I think I remember you saying something about also having English, and I haven't seen him all morning, and I wanted to say hi before lunch, but-"

Felix shushes them, bending his knees so he can lean down to their level. "Shh... I'll talk to him. You're doing the thing again. Don't worry about it, okay?"

They nod silently, raising their hand to cheesily salute him in goodbye. He straightens and follows suit. "Thanks, Feli. See you at lunch!" With that, they scamper down the hallway, towards their Calculus class. Felix watches them t-pose at a girl with long, brown hair and a purple suit on and promptly get noogied, before the two enter the classroom.

He should really get to History, shouldn't he?

The first thing he sees as he enters the classroom is the familiar hoodie of one of his soccer teammates.

"Ey, big man! Welcome to the class! Literally no one else is here, 'cause they're slackers, but it's nice t'see ya!" He shoots Felix a grin.

"Hey, Weymouth. How was your summer?" Felix plops down in a chair next to him, elbowing him playfully in the side.

"Pretty great. Adam and I got a school record in the summer robotics league! I'm hyped about this season, since we're allowed to upgrade the record-breaking model, but I'm not looking forward to the _school_ part of school, y'know?"

"I understand, yeah." Felix chuckles, leaning back in his chair and glancing up at the ceiling. "Just wait until all the dumb drama about who's this year's President starts. Can't we just have like... everyone follows the rules and we all fend for ourselves? Do we really need a hierarchy?"

"I heard Roz was gonna run, actually. She said I should be her vice president, but that means I'd have to run too, and I'd really rather not. That shit's stressful. I'd rather just tell her as a friend what's a good idea."

"Oh! I like that, I like that. I might do that too, now that I think of it. She likes me, right?"

"In her own way, yeah." Harry laughs, turning to grin at Fluor. "Do you know how she is. Aggressively friendly? That's shite wording, now that I think about it. Aggressive friend? Frienemies with everyone? I dunno. She's just... angrily friendly, there we go."

"I'm an aggressive friend, too. We'll probably get along." He taps his chin, thoughtfully, but is interrupted by the teacher.

"Class, could you please open your textbooks to page seven? I'll hand out the syllabus as you leave, but for now, we're going to start with World War II."

Felix groans, but obediently turns to the page. He can think about this later.


	2. lunch time with the idiots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wellllllllllll so matthew and felix have a talk and apparently hal's an idiot but what's new?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't flirt in front of matthew's salad pls

Something's... off with Matthew, Felix decides. For the past few minutes that they've been sitting at their lunch table, waiting for Halcie, the messy-haired nerd hasn't looked up from the table. The empty table.

Felix debates poking him, but Halcie beats him to it.

"Matty! Holy shit, you're fluffier than usual--how was your summer?" They slide into the seat next to Felix after ruffling the nerd's hair a bit. Somehow, it's not a bad look, Felix decides.

He looks up for the first time since lunch started and quirks an eyebrow. "I don't remember most of it, actually. What I do remember was spent in the hospital... it wasn't really all that interesting..."

They sit up straight, leaning over the table in their worry. They've accidentally gotten their sleeve in their salad, but they're too focused on grabbing Matthew's chin and turning his head from side to side to notice. "Oh jeez, are you okay? Are these burns?!"

"It's fine. They're healed." He offers a strained smile, pulling away from their prying hands.

"Mmm... if you say so." They sound skeptical, but they sit back, comically scrunching up their face when they notice the water on their sleeve. "Euck... Guess I'll be back. Keep an eye on him for me, Feli?"

"I've got you, Hal." Felix winks, before turning back to Matthew. "So, uh... how was class?"

"We have the same English period. You know how it went." 

"Yeah, but what about before that?"

He laughs. "Yeah, Physics was fine. We have a lab on Friday, but the teacher mainly wanted to go over the syllabus today. The kid beside me was doodling the whole time, and I almost joined them."

"Wow, Matt not paying attention in science class? Did you hit your head?" Felix chuckles and makes a show of looking him over for injury. 

Matthew's smile falls. "That was three months ago. I'm fine now."

Felix's follows suit. "What?"

"The accident. It was months ago--I'm not concussed. Trust me, I know what being concussed feels like."

He bites his lip. "Uh, I... I was just joking, man..."

Matthew slumps forwards, returning to staring at the table. "Yeah... I get it. Sorry."

They sit in silence for another minute or two, until Halcie returns from the restroom with a dripping sleeve and a bright grin. "I got it off! The salt, I mean. I'm pretty lucky I don't eat salad with dressing, to be honest, but my sleeve's life isn't nearly as important as yours, so I wouldn't have minded," they ramble, mostly to themself. They seem a bit confused when they recieve no comments, but brush it off as the other two being lost in their own worlds and return to eating their salad.

"Hey, Hal..." Felix breaks the silence. "Are you free this weekend?"

"Yeah, of course! Why?" They all but trip over their words.

"I was wondering if you'd like to write the lab report with me? I dunno, you're the physics nerd, right? So... It might be cool."

"Oh, absolutely! Physics and you? That's like, two of my favourite things!" Their face heats up subsequently after they realise what they've said, but they don't look away. Felix can't deny that he's touched, really. They're a fucking dork.

"Great! Wanna come to my place?"

"Sure!"

"Really? In front of my salad?" Matthew quirks an eyebrow, gesturing to his leafy greens.

Felix smirks. "What, 're you jealous? Want in on that Felix study time?" He attempts to wiggle his eyebrows, but it's not very effective since half of his eyebrows are covered by hair.

"More like Halcie study time. You're the one who wanted help, weren't you?" They pipe up, elbowing Felix playfully in the shoulder. "You can come if you want, Matty! I dunno if your physics teacher will have assigned the same work as us, though."

"Yeah, no." He chuckles, sitting back up a tiny bit from his slouch. "I'm all good; just teasin' ya. My salad has very young and impressionable leaves, you know."

"Isn't your salad dead?" Felix points out.

"Its _soul_ can hear you! Plants have souls too..." Matthew's pouting now, like a petulant child being told that their favourite toy isn't alive.

"You sound so sad," he comments, leaning back in his chair haphazardly. Matthew eyes him in concern for his safety, but just sniffs.

"Aww, Felix, what if the plants have feelings?" Halcie joins Matthew in pouting, grabbing onto Felix's arm and performing their best puppy eyes. It kind of works, but only because Felix likes them a little too much. Maybe he needs to stop having friends... then he wouldn't have to worry about their _feelings_ and _interests_. But hey, at least these two don't suck.

"They don't, trust me," he deadpans, even if they keep pouting. "Not everything has feelings, Hal."

They frown, but don't reply. Instead, they point across the room. "Oh, hey, have you met my twin yet? He's a dumbass, but he means well!"

"Yeah. We already had this conversation, Hal; I met him this morning." Felix humors them by glancing at the pink eyesore, though. He's talking animatedly with Harry and the girl in purple, but he seems a little out of place. Maybe he's just getting used to people.

"Oh, right! Well, this is his first and last year of public school; our parents homeschooled him per his own request 'cause he wanted to work in the garden whenever he could, and Mother Fox wanted to help him keep an eye on the plants." Halcie chuckles, smiling at their sibling from across the room. He doesn't seem to notice the attention.

"A garden boy, huh?" Felix snorts. "He looks more like a jock to me. Acts like one, too. One of those... flirty prep jock boys. What's the word for that?"

"Oh, he flirted with you? And I don't think there _is_ a word for it. Just... Wait, no. It's fuckboy. He's a fuckboy?"

"He's a what now?" Matthew appears to have zoned out for the entire conversation.

"A fuckboy! I don't think that's super accurate, though. I'd say they're more a thembo than anything else."

"A what now."

"A thembo--Okay, you know what a himbo is? My sibling's a demiboy, so he's a them-bo." They flush a tiny bit at the word, but Felix can't figure out why. "It just means he's really stupid but they're trying their best."

"Okay, who are we talking about?" Matthew squints at Halcie.

"My sibling. Uh... have you met him yet?"

"Halcie, I don't know his name. I have no idea if I've met him or not."

"You know, you seem a little more like a thembo to me, Hal," Felix interjects.

"I-what? I'm not!!!"

" _What's his name, Halcie?_ "

"I'm not a thembo!"

"That doesn't answer my question!"

"Hey, what're we talkin' about?" Horrible eyesore person is here now, Felix accepts. They take their seat on Halcie's left, in between them and Matthew.

"Oh, hey. Uh, please don't touch my salad," Matthew asks the newcomer.

"Wasn't plannin' on it. Hal, when'd you meet these cuties?"

"Aether, what the actual fuck."

They throw up their hands defensively, obviously holding back laughter. "Listen, this one thought I was you, and the new one's in my physics class 'n' seems like he's got his shit together. I was curious!"

Halcie wrinkles their nose. "I'll tell you about my besties later, okay? Just... chill."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Matthew still has no idea what's happening.

"Aether; pleased t'meet you. Even if we've technically met before. You have good handwriting, y'know that?"

"Uh, okay..." He scoots away, towards Felix, just a tad. They seem a little miffed, but don't comment.

"They're my twin! Roz has a twin too--our family's a lil' funky..." Halcie trails off.

Matthew's eyes light up with recognition, and he nods. "Yeah, okay, great, everything makes sense now. Uh, just let me write that down really quickly."

"Jesus, do you carry that journal everywhere?" Felix asks, as Matthew pulls out the spiral bound notebook he keeps his thoughts in.

"Yes."

"Huh..."

"Well, I'm gonna get back to Roz 'n' them. Nice meetin' y'all!" Aether winks, before standing and attempting to saunter off. He almost trips, but it's okay, only Felix sees.

He can't really focus on anything Hal or Matthew say for the rest of the lunch period, because he's trying to figure out when would be the perfect time to make fun of this clumsy idiot.

Maybe during Craft Club... if he's in it, that is.


End file.
